Sistema FMUSP-HC: Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo (FMUSP) e Hospital das Clínicas da FMUSPTOZETTO-MENDOZA, Tania ReginaIBRAHIM, Karim YaqubTATENO, Adriana FumieOLIVEIRA, Cristiane Mendes deSUMITA, Laura MassamiSANCHEZ, Maria Carmem ArroyoLUNA, Expedito JosePIERROTTI, Ligia CamaraDREXLER, Jan FelixBRAZ-SILVA, Paulo HenriquePANNUTI, Claudio SergioROMANO, Camila Malta2017-02-162017-02-162016MEDICINE, v.95, n.48, article ID e5291, 8p, 20160025-7974https://observatorio.fm.usp.br/handle/OPI/18153AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma (AIDS-KS) caused by human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8) is the most severe and resistant form of KS tumor. Our aim was to verify whether there is an association between HHV-8 variability and development of AIDS-KS in Brazil by comparing the HHV-8 variability between individuals without and with KS. Saliva samples and blood, when available, were analyzed by PCR techniques for detection of the fragments of ORF K1 of HHV-8, which were then genotyped and analyzed regarding the genetic variability. Our study described 106 positive cases for HHV-8 in the saliva from 751 AIDS patients without previous KS. In addition, we performed a phylogenetic analysis of HHV-8 in 34 of the 106 AIDS patients without KS and in 33 of the 37 patients with active KS. The distribution of HHV-8 genotypes A, B, C, and F in AIDS individuals was indistinguishable by comparing non-KS and KS groups, as well as regarding ethnicity. Considering the KS group, genotype B was associated with better prognosis of KS tumor. Interestingly. we found a particular profile of diversity within Glade C and 2 recombinant patterns of HHV-8 in the saliva of AIDS individuals without KS. We emphasize the need to achieve standard genotyping protocol for ORF K1 amplification, thus allowing for substantial detection of HHV-8 variants. Our findings can shed light on the role of HHV-8 variability in the pathogenesis of AIDS-KS.engopenAccessAIDS-KSgenotypeHHV-8ORF K1salivaherpesvirus type 8multiple sequence alignmentlow viral loadmolecular epidemiologyhuman-herpesvirus-8 infectiongenetic-variabilitybrazilian amazonk1 proteinsao-paulosubtypesarticleCopyright LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS10.1097/MD.0000000000005291Medicine, General & Internal1536-5964